Cast Off The Demons
by jekkah
Summary: Follow-up to the season nine finale, "Demons". Hotch shows up at JJ's hotel room to kiss away her bruises. Rating M for nudity, but it's really more of a T.


_Author's Note: This didn't quite turn out how I wanted and Hotch is pretty out of character, but I'm hoping that my dear JJ/Hotch readers forgive me and enjoy this anyway._

**Cast Off the Demons**

JJ was relaxing in a bubble bath, scented candles lit around the hotel tub, and soft music playing in the background. The worst cases were the ones where someone on the team got hurt or someone on the team had to kill someone. This case had both. JJ shivered as she thought of Reid on that gurney. She hadn't felt such fear since she lost her sister.

A knock on the door drew JJ from her morbid thoughts. She contemplated ignoring whoever was on the other side, but too much had happened in the last few days. If there was any more bad news, she had to know.

Standing, JJ threw on the fluffy white robe that Garcia had given her a few years ago without bothering to dry herself off. The ends of her hair dripping, she opened the door of her hotel room. "Hotch. Is everything okay?"

"Yes," he said, but then, shook his head. "No. I don't know."

"Come in," she ordered. JJ closed the door as he sat on the bed. She grabbed her brush from the dresser.

Hotch rose, taking the brush from her hand. "May I?"

Eyes wide, JJ nodded. "Sure."

He led her back over to the bed, directing her to sit between his legs. Gingerly, he brushed her hair. "Did I interrupt your bath?"

"Technically, but it's fine," she rushed to add before he could apologize. "I'd rather have my hair brushed. I don't think I have since I was in college. So, what brought you to my door? Is it Reid? Because I just talked to him and he's doing fine. Rossi and Blake are spending the night there."

"It's not Reid," he replied, separating her hair into pieces. "I talked to Rossi not too long ago."

JJ pursed her lips. "Garcia's fine, too. She and Morgan were cuddling in bed watching romantic comedies when I last checked on her."

Hotch shuddered. "For the record, I didn't need to know that, but it's not Garcia or Morgan."

"Is it Jack?" JJ looked over her shoulder at him.

"Jack's fine." He pushed her head forward to resume his strokes. "I came here because of you."

Startled, she turned around to look him in the face. "Me? I'm fine."

Hotch took her right hand in his and used his fingers to trace imaginary roads over her palm. He smiled slightly at her gasp. "He touched you. He grabbed your arm."

"It was nothing," JJ whispered, mesmerized by his actions. "Just a simple arm grab."

"It wasn't nothing," he protested. Hotch nudged her sleeve up her arm to just above her elbow. "He grabbed you right here and I've never wanted to punch a LEO so much in my life. No one has the right to put their hands on you."

She tried to reply, but her voice wouldn't work. Her breathing increased as he lowered his head to her arm. JJ flushed with arousal when his lips met the spot that the officer had grabbed her arm.

"Hotch," she hissed as he proceeded to kiss every inch of where the man's hand had been.

Hotch looked up at her, his eyes hot. "Morgan told me that you were hit by the truck door. Did it leave a bruise?"

JJ swallowed. The air around them seemed to crackle. "A small one."

"Would you like me to kiss it and make it all better?" he asked with an intensity that threatened to overwhelm her.

"Yes," she answered before realizing what she was agreeing to. She found, however, that she didn't want to change her mind.

Standing once again, Hotch pulled her up. He untied her belt, but left the robe closed. "Lie down on the bed."

JJ nodded. She laid down in the center of the bed, putting her head on her folded arms. Her body quivered in anticipation. Hotch knelt on the bed beside her. He gathered the bottom of her robe in his hands and slid it up her body, caressing her skin as he went. JJ felt him hesitate when he revealed her ass.

"You have the most beautiful ass in the world," he told her after a bit. She blushed furiously. He continued upward until he reached the bruise. It was an ugly blue and purple set against her milky skin. "I could kill him for this."

"He's already dead," she chuckled.

Hotch licked than kissed the bottom of the wound. "If I could, I would bring him back to life just to kill him again."

She rubbed her cheek against her hand. "You'd have to get in line behind me. I'm kinda kick-ass."

"That you are. My beautiful, sweet, badass," he told her. He kissed every centimeter of her bruise. "Did he hurt you anywhere else?"

"Yeah," she admitted, "but I have to turn over for you to reach it."

Hotch sat back on his heels. She wavered for only a second before turning. Her robe fell to the sides, exposing nearly all of her. Hotch licked his lips as he took her all in.

"You are, without a doubt," he cleared his voice, "the most exquisite thing that I have ever seen in my life."

"I'm not that-"

Hotch silenced her with a heated kiss. "Don't make me put you in front of a mirror."

JJ froze. She knew that they had crossed a line the moment he stepped into her hotel room, but somehow, that kiss made everything seem real. "Hotch-"

"I want you," he confessed. He had one hand on her hip, his thumb stroking the bruise that lay there. "You have to feel how much I want you."

"I do," JJ whispered.

Suddenly, Hotch gathered her in his arms. He buried his face in her hair, rocking them both. "I have been scared, so scared this year that I was going to lose you. And I'm tired, JJ. I'm so tired off playing the stoic boss that sees you as nothing more than my employee. And I know that you have Will, but I don't care! Oh, God, JJ, I just don't care anymore."

Petting his hair, JJ held him tight until he had calmed down. "Will left."

"What?" Hotch lifted his head, his eyes searching hers.

"Will left, not long after I was kidnapped. Turns out that he was a bit angrier than he initially thought about the miscarriage. I've been... lying to everyone, faking our relationship because I couldn't admit to anyone that he was gone."

Hotch gave her a sympathetic smile, putting his hands on her cheeks. "I'm sorry that you've been going through that alone."

She shrugged. "It's my own fault. I could have talked to any of you, but I didn't." She mimicked his movements with her own, placing her hands on his face. "For the record, you weren't the only one scared tonight. What were you thinking, fighting that guy? One of these days, Aaron, you're going to get yourself really hurt."

"Say it again," he begged. She shot him a bewildered look. "My name."

"Aaron," JJ breathed out. She kissed his forehead. "Aaron." Each of his eyelids. "Aaron." The tip of his nose. "Aaron." She placed a fluttering kiss on his lips.

"Tell me there's a chance for us," he whispered against her lips. "Please."

JJ felt her heart speed up. "It'll be hard. They're not going to let us stay on the same team."

He rubbed her cheek with his own. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve, but I'll leave the team if I have to. I've been turning down other offers for years."

"This is crazy," she stated, "and so not like you. But, baby, I want you, too."

In one swift move, Hotch had her lying on her back. He hovered over her. "With your permission, I'm going to ravish you now."

She blushed, his husky tone sending tingles right to her center. "Only if I get to ravish you right back."

"For as long as you'll have me," he said, seriously.

"I think that can be arranged for a long, long time."

END


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